27 Tuesday Aug 2024
Posted in azahars kitchen, casa azahar, food & drink, gastronomy, homecooking, sevilla
A couple of weeks ago I saw that Nigella Lawson was back on Bluesky – or at least giving it another go – and she posted a recipe to her spicy “green sauce”. A simple yet totally addictive salsa. Vegetarian/vegan too. My version is a bit of an adaptation, but you can see both below…
09 Tuesday Jul 2024
Posted in gastro guias, gastronomy, sevilla
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This week our Gastro Guías enjoyed their last event until summer break, a private cooking class at Taller Andaluz de Cocina in Triana Market. And it couldn’t have been better. I first did a class with them back in 2015 and it was terrific, so when we were looking for a way to close out our first season this seemed like a fun option. And well, not only was it fun, but everyone learned a lot and we got to eat all the amazing food we prepared ourselves with a glass of wine.
The Menú Andaluz
· ajoblanco con mojama
· garbanzos con langostinos y ají amarillo
· espinacas con garbanzos
· rosquitos de naranja
Pics below (follow Andalucía Gastro Guías for more)
25 Tuesday Jun 2024
Posted in gastronomy, restaurants, sevilla, twitter, twitter friends
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Got to meet another Twitter pal in person over the weekend. Michele @mneylon is a world-travelling food-loving guy from Ireland and we’ve known each other virtually for YEARS. And then all of a sudden he was in Sevilla! So we met up for lunch. When Michele mentioned he’d like some seafood I knew we had to go to Salmedina. I mean, I go there a lot both on my own and on my tapas tours, but it’s always fun to go with someone who really knows and appreciates good food.
Our waiter recommended the “pez tambor” in tempura and… he was so right! I’d never heard of this fish before, which is found on the Cádiz coast. Toothy little guy, also very toothsome, with firm sweet flesh in light crispy batter. Michele also made sure to get all the goodness out of the head (cheeks etc) but before taking it away our waiter pointed out that there was still some good eating from behind the eyes, and Michele happily followed instructions.
That evening I suggested that Michele go to another of my favourite spots, Augurio, and so he went with two friends and, well, raved about it. There are other excellent new restaurants in town but to me Augurio is THE opening of 2024 (even though we’re still in June I feel safe saying this). Anyhow, great to meet Michele and I hope he’ll be back again before too long.
13 Thursday Jun 2024
Posted in food & drink, friends, gastronomy, sevilla, tapas, tapas bars, television
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I was asked a while ago to help a television production company with an upcoming travel and gastronomy feature in Sevilla and I was happy to do so even though they later mentioned that they also wanted me to be in the programme too (!!!). And well… eep. I had set them up with the perfect bar and chefs for filming the cooking sessions, but later they also wanted to film a “tapeo”. Again, I organised this with two of my favourite bars and got their permission and when Jaime, one of the chefs, said he’d also be going along on the tapeo I thought “great! I’m off the hook!”. Except no. They still wanted me to come along and join the small group going out.
And well, it was fun and I was happy to help my friends get some nice exposure but I seriously hope any shots with me in it end up on the cutting room floor. Also, I didn’t make it to our final bar because everything was running late, my knee was killing me, and I had a lunchtime tapas tour in Triana the next day. So I bailed and hoped they would get some good stuff at the last place. Will let you know when it comes out, sometime early 2025 is the plan. Until then I can’t say much more about it.
31 Friday May 2024
Posted in culture, events, gastronomy, sevilla
This is the second Caracolia – aka Sevilla Snail Festival – with 13 bars from Sevilla city and province participating serving up both caracoles and cabrillas. The former are a smaller snail cooked in spicy broth, cabrillas are bigger and usually cooked in a cuminy tomato sauce. It’s a fun event and lovely that it’s down by the river to catch a cool post-dusk breeze. We had a great time and even caught a spectacular sunset on the way home.
casa azahar 